J+S
Western Massachusetts
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Joined: 05/28/2004
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We recently purchased a new 2004 Fleetwood Pecos popup and are thinking of getting a screen room. The Fleetwood one runs about $350 but we have seen cheaper ones for like $175 (Carefree brand). Would another brand fit our Fleetwood or do we have to stick with the Fleetwood one only? Also, how easy/hard are they to put up and is the zipper door a pain? Just wondering if this purchase would be worth our time and money.
Julie, Skip, and the 3 kids
TV: 2008 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer
PU: 2004 Fleetwood Pecos
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Spirit Deer
Boundary Waters, Minnesota
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Joined: 03/07/2002
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You might contact Weimer's RV or maybe it's Wiemer's RV in PA. Several people have mentioned they carry some old stock, new Coleman add-a-rooms. I think the price was under $200, and that's for an AAR, not just a screen room. They should be able to tell you if what they have would fit your camper. Keep in mind, if they have a room that's too long for your awning, you could probably have it shortened to fit at a canvas shop for not too much, as the sides would be the correct size and only the front panel would need to be changed. A big advantage of the AAR over the screen room is it'd give you more room on a rainy day, as the panels can be closed to keep things dry. That might be a big consideration with three kids.
Other brands may fit your camper, but would probably need some modification, for example, your camper's awning may be set up for a zipper while another brand of screen room may attach with Velcro instead. If you don't mind some hand sewing, adding Velcro wouldn't be that big a deal.
The zipper is a pain, no doubt about it. It's like a tent, after all. A tab made of nylon webbing added to the bottom of the zipper gives something to step on and pull the zipper up, though, and makes it a lot easier.
As for whether it's worth it, that seems to be an individual thing. Some people complain the rooms are a total pain to install and take too much time, so they rarely if ever use them. Others find that, with practice, setup isn't really that bad, and so they use thier rooms on every trip. I made my own screen room, and we anticipate using it a lot. It almost doubles the size of the trailer and for us, gives us a nice place to contain our dogs while we sit in the almost-outside. Seems like a fair trade for 10-15 minutes of setup and tear down time. Up here, black fly season and mosquito season are serious reasons a screen room will be a great thing to have.
Spirit Deer
One husband
Two huskies
Three kitties
1983 Itasca Sunflyer moho (Arvie) (big toy)
2005 Chevy Astro
2005 Palomino Mustang (Sally) (slightly smaller toy)
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russell_miller
peoria, illinois, usa
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i prefer a stand alone screen room. they do a better job of keeping out bugs and the are very inexpensive at wal-mart or other discount stores.
russell miller
Come hear my blues band sometime!
2002 Subaru Forester
1983 Coleman Columbia
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oldrifleman
Seattle, Wa
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********
russel wrote:
i prefer a stand alone screen room. they do a better job of keeping out bugs and the are very inexpensive at wal-mart or other discount stores.
*********
You can put a stand alone wherever you want. Since we already have an awning, this gives us more covered area. Also, you don't have to worry about having a wide driveway (good for us since we have a slide out). The screen room attached to the PU is good if you are trying to make more room in the PU.
Jean
Oldrifleman (Steven), Wife (Jean), Daughter (3 year old), Son (almost 2)
2002 F-250 SD CrewCab, 6.8L V10, 3.73, Prodigy
2004 Fleetwood Utah
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J+S
Western Massachusetts
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Thanks for the replies. I think my better half, J, was looking for both opinions on screen rooms and also trying to find out who makes the Fleetwood awnings. There are no tags / labels at all.
We called our Fleetwood RV dealer and they said the Carefree would probably fit but with "unsatisfactory results". He would not clarify this statement.
S
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1OldCrowAnd1CuteChick
Northwest Georgia
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I noticed on the Fleetwood brochure that the PECOs is an 11' box. I'm wondering what size the awning would be as this is an odd sized box?
I do know that the Fleetwood screen room secures to the awning with velcro and the "kit" has additional strips that zip to the canvas to allow attachment between room and camper.
Talk to your salesman to see if he can't arrange a discount on such supplies for your new camper....let him know you might be back to by a hybrid in a couple years if he treats you right.
Tom and Bobbie in NW GA
Now: 01 Toyota Highlander V6 pulling 02 Coleman Sun Valley, Prodigy Brake Controller, Sway Bar.
Was: 99 CRV tugging 95 Starcraft.
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Spirit Deer
Boundary Waters, Minnesota
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Quote:We called our Fleetwood RV dealer and they said the Carefree would probably fit but with "unsatisfactory results". He would not clarify this statement.
Of course not. He wants to sell you his room.
JC Whitney also sells AAR's and screen rooms reasonably. They fit Shademaker awnings (which are much less of a pain to deal with than the stock Fleetwoods!) but could probably be converted. They do use a Velcro system rather than zippers.
I think it comes down to your problem solving skills and how handy you are, and if you're patient enough to deal with any problems that might come up. Personally, I'm the type that wouldn't hesitate to buy something and make it work, but I realize not everyone has the same mindset.
Another idea would be to put the stock awning on the road side of the trailer to provide shade there, and buy a new Shademaker awning and screen room for the door side. Then everything would fit. That probably wouldn't cost you much more than just the room from Fleetwood, and you'd have a much cooler trailer. Or you could just sell the stock awning on eBay or elsewhere.
Good luck in your search. Let us know what you decide.
On edit: JC Whitney offers an eight foot standard awning for $180 and an eight foot screen room for $129. They also currently have a free shipping offer for orders over $125, but who knows when that will end? We have the standard Shademaker awning and like it very much, as it has no loose parts and is fast and simple to set up.
Keep in mind while you're shopping that not all zippers are the same. So even if your awning has a zipper, and you buy a screen room with a zipper, the two halves may not match if the awning and room are made by different companies.
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J+S
Western Massachusetts
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Well, we broke down and ordered the Fleetwood screen room today from the dealer. We decided we really wanted an attached room to just walk out into early in the morning or later at night, and with 3 kids it would give us more room to spread out in.
Now the question is this, the screen room is on order and when it comes in the dealer wants to "install the velcro attachments" onto our PU at a cost of $85 an hour labor. They say it will take 1 1/2 hours to do. Does anyone out there have one of these rooms? If it is just velcro attachments to the PU is it something we can do ourselves? I find it hard to believe it will take 1 1/2 hours to attach velcro, unless there is something we are missing.
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mike4947
N. Syracuse, NY
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That's about in line with all the quotes I've seen for "installing" screen rooms/AAR's. Most have been in the $100-$200 range.
It's DIY'able, and fairly easy once you throw away the instructions (which I swear are for installing a steam engine in a 747).
You will have a problem with the under the trailer skirt, fitting it around the stepper door, everyone does.
As for DIY'ing it; do it at home. It can ruin a weekend camping trip.
A couple of "brown beverages" and keeping the kids away so they don't learn any new words helps as well. Lay everything out and plan ahead.
Most dealer installations aren't as good as ones done by trailer owners so save your money and DIY it.
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littlebigbar
Victoria, BC, Canada
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Joined: 03/30/2004
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save the money and do it yourself, that's what I did. Depending on how fussy you are, you may not even need to apply all of the velcro as it's just for the trim under the trailer and around the wheel well. I don' t think I even use the velcro anymore.
You'll also likely have to instal a couple of plastic hooks for bungies (if the design is the same as it used to be). Just takes a drill. Be sure to take an entire afternoon to set it up the first time... they're a pain, but once you get the hang of it, they go up easily.
If you're used to setting up your awning, watch out for the pole ends (plastic) that go into the awning bar.... with the screen room the whole assembly becomes quite heavy and it becomes easier to twist the poles and break off the end parts. I always have a couple of spares on hand "just in case".
We only set ours up if we're staying put for more than two days. You may also want to consider looking at some cheap carpet... makes it great to just step out of the Tent Trailer without putting the shoes on. Have fun!
'01 F350, SRW, CC, 4x4 longbox
Rancho 9000x, Firestone Ride-Rites, factory swaybars
'04 Bigfoot 9.6 and '96 Coleman Cheyenne (popup)
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